


Seeded Grief

by ImpyTricky (rychuu)



Category: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, F/M, Heavy Angst, Murder-Suicide, Not A Happy Ending, Ouaka, Oumaede - Freeform, oumatsu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24728428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rychuu/pseuds/ImpyTricky
Summary: Kokichi had made a contract with Kyubey, despite knowing the fate of the contractees, and is now about to morph from his despair. (Oumaede)
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Oma Kokichi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 56
Collections: Kokichi Ouma Month





	Seeded Grief

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, more pain!
> 
> This was written for Ouma Month day 14, with the prompt "Magical Boy/Girl" and "Transformation", kind of.
> 
> Enjoy the pain!

“Kokichi!”

The battle was over; a clash of dark and light magic, a battle of good and evil. Yet those forms the magic took were indistinguishable from one another, as the light is bound to turn to dark.

That was what Kaede saw--she saw Kokichi collapsing after saving someone deep within the Witch’s Lair, and his soul gem darkened and discolored with putrid greens and oranges. The signs of a contractee who dared to make a wish with Kyubey was about to become something beyond human beings, only to be killed later by a new magical girl or boy. A vicious cycle that was forever perpetuated, and forever will. 

Kokichi knew this when he made his wish. He offered up his life as sacrifice to produce a better solution to the Incubator’s dilemma--he created a source of energy outside of human emotion that would fight entropy, while simultaneously removing that power from the rest of humanity. With this new source of energy, the human race was left to deal with the aftermath. No more magical boys or girls could be created due to the wish’s nature, and the Incubators had moved on.

However, Kokichi’s wish didn’t apply to anyone who had already made a contract--their soul was binded to their fate, and he was no expectation. For years he fought to help others, but now his soul was at his limit, and there were little to no grief seeds left to spare.

When the witches died out, so would those who used grief seeds to keep their own souls pure and untainted. If not careful, that could leave a world of witches with no magical boys or girls to combat them. So there was only one fate remaining.

“Ehe… Heh…  _ shit,” _ Kokichi groaned, trembling and yelping when painful spasms hit. Kaede winced when he writhed in pain. “I… I guess that’s it, then, isn’t it?”

Kaede inhaled sharply, and before she could think, she shook here head violently. Fumbling, she looked into her bag, and pulled out a grief seed. “N-no, wait, there’s still a few more left--Kokichi, please, hang on!”

“Why… Are you trying to save me?” Kokichi gritted his teeth. “There’s no point, Kaede…”

“Because you can’t die yet!” She cried. “Here, just--!”

Kaede took the grief seed, one that was so dark that she worried about Kyubey’s warning that it could hatch again, but she didn’t care. She could fight off another witch, if it meant saving Kokichi’s life then and there. She tried to press it to Kokichi’s soul gem, one he wore over his heart, but he grabbed her wrist before she could. 

“S… Stop,” he croaked. “It’s no good… that’s it, Kaede. I’m… I’m done for.”

“But why?!” Tears were rolling down Kaede’s face, and she gritted her teeth. “You don’t have to die yet!”

“But I’m… gonna have to die some day, anyway, you know? I--Ghh!” Another surge of corrupted magic hit his soul gem, and then a surge of pain through his body. “Shit, fuck…! It hurts…!”

“Kokichi, please, I can save you, you don’t have to do this…! Stop being so stubborn!”

_ “You’re _ the one… who’s being stubborn…” Kokichi laughed, but Kaede didn’t know what he found funny. It only made her sob. “I… we promised, that at the end… once we were done with the witches in Japan, we’d… let it go. That was the last one… so we gotta let it go.”

“But…! But I…!” She couldn’t stand the idea. Her heart felt like it was being torn to shreds. “Please, I don’t…!”

“Ehe… Don’t wanna be left alone?” He was teasing her, and Kaede nearly wanted to smack him silly for it. “You’re so… needy, it’s kind of cute, you know? Ehe… That’s gonna… make what you have to do next especially hard on you, isn’t it…? But, you… know what you have to do for me, right?”

Kokichi swallowed, bottom lip trembling with fear as he moved his right hand. His right hand, over to his soul gem. Over his very heart. He forced out a grin. “Hey… K-Kaede… We’re the last two left, you know? Every witch… and every person who made a contract with Kyubey… everyone else is gone. It’s just us now, yeah? And… this is… where it all ends.”

Kaede only continued to sob harder. There was a fear that had always lingered in her chest, but she was already prepared for it. From the moment Kokichi made his wish and onward, she was prepared for the end of her own life.

But not his.  _ Never _ his. And now…

He wanted her to end it.

While her heart screamed against it, deep down, she knew this day would come. She knew that it was the end, just like he said. Selfishly holding on would only doom humanity.

“Kaede…” He whispered, moving his hand to cup her cheek. He was smiling, so warmly and so bright, that it promised salvation. Even if there was none to be had. “... I love you.”

Every word made her cry harder. It felt so, so hopeless. She hated the Incubators who did this to them… and hated humanity, who let the evil of the world go unchecked.

She heard a soft inhale, and Kaede’s attention was drawn back to Kokichi’s. His eyes were widened with fear. Mouth slightly parted, he looked like he wanted to say something, but when they locked eyes again, he smiled. Kaede could tell it was forced. 

“I love you,” he whispered again. Whatever it was she was thinking about melted away into absolute grief.

“I--I love you too, I love you so much…!”

Desperation and affection took control of her, and she crashed her lips to his. With as much strength as he could, he wrapped his left arm around her, pulling her closer. There was so much she wanted, so much of her life she would never get the chance to experience, a happy life with a future that looked so bright. It was just out of their reach now.

In the middle of their kiss, Kaede felt something press up against her shoulder, right where her own soul gem had resided. 

She pulled away from the kiss, distracted. Before she could do anything else, however, a bullet fired.

Then nothing.

………

……

…

Her body went limp as soon as her soul gem shattered, and now it was laying right on top of him. With a choked back sob, Kokichi pushed Kaede off of him, wheezing as his hands started shaking. To see her soul gem become so dark so quickly, it startled him. It scared him. There was already so much grief he held in his own chest, and yet she would have fallen faster and harder if he didn’t put her down first.

That didn’t make the seething pain exploding in his chest any lighter.

With his own soul gem on the brink of morphing, Kokichi didn’t have time to think, only act. He pulled his soul gem from his chest, but his shaking hands made him drop it on the ground. He gasped, but thankfully it hadn’t rolled too far.

He pointed his gun at it, shaking. Ever second was deadly, Kokichi knew--he had to go, or he would turn.

Kokichi squeezed his eyes shut, and images of him and Kaede appeared in his mind. Seeing her warm smile, feeling her warm embrace, sharing their love and first kiss--the memories put him at ease. 

And then, he pulled the trigger.


End file.
